


Reparations

by Circeancity



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Volume 3 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 07:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6069691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Circeancity/pseuds/Circeancity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place around the vol. 3 finale.</p><p>Things haven't been going well for Yang (which is a huge understatement) but Ruby is sure he has something that will cheer her sister up. Now, if only she'd get out of bed to see it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reparations

**Author's Note:**

> I just needed something nice after the finale okay

The calendar would tell her it was only ten days later, but it felt like an eternity. Then again, when you spent most of your time in bed, even one day would feel like a thousand years. 

“Yang wake up, I need to show you something.”

She wanted to shoo Ruby away but chose the wrong arm for that, a wave of soreness travelling up the stump. “No. Go away.”

“Yang please--”

“Go  _ away _ .” She didn’t have to look up from where she lay to know Ruby was giving her a kicked-puppy look. After all these years she could practically feel it boring into her, weakening her to compromise. Yang sighed, “I’ll get up later.” Honestly, after everything, she lacked the strength to argue.

“Promise? It’s really important.”

Mm.

“Okay...I’ll come back in a bit.”

Mm.

The sound of bare feet thumping against carpet faded away, telling Yang she was finally alone again. Good. She buried herself further under the covers and fell asleep, dreaming of people and places far away from here...

* * *

 

...It was a nonsense dream and it came, abruptly, to a nonsense end when someone shook her by the shoulder.

Yang sat up, blinking away sleep as she adjusted to the milky light streaming through the clouds. “What?” she asked from her fog, wanting to get back to...something with puppies, it was becoming less clear by the second, “What do you want?”

When she looked over and saw Ruby she remembered their earlier conversation. Great.

“Dad says you gotta get up. It’s past noon.” 

“Tell Dad to shove it up his ass. He slept all day when mom died, I should be allowed to now.”

She got that same uncomfortable look she always did when people mentioned Summer. Yang started to apologize, but Ruby quickly skipped the subject.

“Plus...you said you’d come look at what I have to show you later, and it’s later soooo...”

Hm. “Well, you got me there.” she said flatly, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. “So what is it?”

As if a switch was flipped, Ruby’s whole face lit up. “You have to guess!” She barely gave Yang time to stand up, grabbing her by the hand and leading her down the hall.

Really? She tried to muster up the enthusiasm to guess, and when that failed, tried to approximate the right expression, “Some video on the internet?”

“Uh, no, the internet’s down remember? The CCT...”

“Right, right. Is it a weird fish or something?” Patch  _ was _ an island, maybe something weird washed ashore.

“No, it’s cooler than  _ that _ Yang. Try again.” She expected Ruby to bring her to her room, but the she kept them going right past it.

“Well gimme a hint then.” Ruby pushed open the back door. Immediately the pair was awash in the scent of rain and decaying leaves.

“It’s something that’ll definitely make you feel better.” Ruby chirped confidently.

Yang winced at the wet ground beneath her bare feet, “I’m beat then. I can’t think of anything.”

“Just try, you’re not thinking hard enough.” Ruby grinned at her, making a beeline for the old shed.

She sighed again, wrenching her hand away from Ruby. “Is it Blake? Because if you wanted to cheer me up right now that’s the only way.” Not even bothering that she hurt her sister, Yang stalked back towards the house.

In a wave of petals, Ruby appeared in front of her, “Yang, please, I’m sure--”

“Is it Weiss then?” She pushed past her.

More rose petals flew as Ruby kept blocking her way. “Look, I know you’re hurt, and I am too, but--”

“Pyrrha?”

That was the ticket. Yang didn’t even look back as she closed the door behind her. As she climbed back into the still warmed space beneath her covers, she realized it was a low blow, but there was nothing she could do now. There was never anything she could do.

* * *

 

Qrow and Taiyang glared at her all through dinner, only when they thought she wouldn’t notice. Yeah, that seemed fair, make her the villain. Ruby was still missing, though when Yang asked where she was, barely picking at her curry, the only response was “Out back.”

When the scraping of forks against ceramic became too much for her, Yang slammed her hand on the table. “Well, Dinner was great, I’m gonna go watch tv or something.”

“Yang--” Qrow started, only making her leave faster.

“See ya.”

It was probably one in the morning the next time she saw Ruby. She was curled up on the couch binge watching old videos (as the CCTs were also responsible for television). She didn’t even hear her enter. She just blinked and Ruby was in front of the tv. 

“Do you...still wanna see it?” Her expression was impossible to read, cast entirely in shadow by blocking out the only light source. With the glow behind her head, it almost seemed like Ruby had a halo.

“You’re not mad at me?”

“I am,” Oh. “But I still want you to feel better.”

There was a long silence between the two before Yang spoke. “Fine, show me.” She held out her hand for Ruby to lead her.

Instead, Ruby turned on a lamp, bathing the room in a soft yellow light. “I’ve got it right here.” she smiled, waving a rolled up blueprint. That got Yang’s attention.

Ruby spread out the blueprint on the coffee table, watching her sister for her reaction.

At first, Yang was confused. It was another weapon, but Ruby didn’t need one, Crescent was fine. She traced the design with her eyes until she realized it was some sort of cannon. The butt end was made to attach directly to the user’s arm and the barrel could transform...

Tears welled in her eyes.

The barrel transformed into a hand. 

Ruby spoke up, prompting Yang to tear her eyes away from the print, “I uh, I wanted your help with design input. But I also wanted it to be a surprise. I hope you like it.”

Yang didn’t respond, tracing over her sister’s short, choppy pencil strokes with a look of wonder.

“It’s supposed to match Ember Celica. Not perfectly, because it’d have to be a little longer, but um, close enough. A-and look!” Ruby pointed towards the hand form blueprint, “There was too much material to make into a hand so when it’s not transformed you get a cute little bracelet.” She trailed off with an awkward laugh. “Please say something.”

Yang leaned across the table to pull her into a hug, “I’m sorry.” she whispered, “I really don’t deserve this.”

“Yes you do.”

“No I don’t. I’ve done nothing but push you away since we got home. You were still thinking of me this whole time...”

Ruby smoothed down Yang’s hair, “Because you’re my sister and you’re hurt, and I love you. So shut up, you don’t need to deserve this.”

Blinking away tears, Yang kissed her forehead and sat back down. “This is really impressive though, did you learn this at Beacon?”

Ruby smiled, flustered by the praise, “Well, I had Dad and Qrow help me out with some of the more technical aspects, but the design was all me.”

They spent the next few hours going over the details, discussing design choices (The metal should be black instead of silver, it’ll make the yellow pop more.), functionality (So can I move it with my mind? “Uh, not quite, I was thinking thrust to fire, flex to grab.” Yeah, yeah, I can live with that.) and...other such things (“Yang we should add a helicopter attachment!” What? “Like for when the battle gets too rough you just grab your partner and-- Go go Xiao Long Helicopter Hands!” Oh my _god_ , Ruby...)

“But we should put something on it...” Ruby yawned, “So it doesn’t get too hot...after you use it, y’know? It’d suck to...melt everything.” She rubbed her eyes and Yang kissed her forehead again.

“I think we should go to sleep. You’ve done a lot today.”

“Mhmm” Ruby stood up and stretched. Yang thought about carrying her to her room but...yeah.

The sisters walked down the hall together, stopping right outside Ruby’s room. “G’night Yang.” she trudged inside and nudged the door to shut behind her. However, Yang stopped it halfway. “Hey, I love you.”

“I love you too.” she replied, groggily shrugging out of her dress.

“But...I just need you to remember that. No matter what happens, whatever I do. Okay?”

“I will.”

Yang nodded and let the door shut all the way, lingering only for a second. It was all she could ask for, but even that felt a little selfish. 


End file.
